5 Jags land on PFF's top-101 list

It goes without saying the Jacksonville Jaguars have one of the league’s best defenses, if not the best. That was clear throughout the year when looking at the individual grades and analytics given out by the good people at Pro Football Focus during the 2017 season. They recently completed their list of the league’s top-101 players and five members of the Jags’ defense made the cut in Malik Jackson (No. 94), Telvin Smith (No. 57), A.J. Bouye (No. 48), Jalen Ramsey (No. 13) and Calais Campbell (No. 9).

In starting with the defensive line, Jackson and Campbell without a doubt deserve to make the list as they were a nightmare duo in the trenches. Jackson finished the 2017 season with a grade of 86.4, while Campbell finished with an elite grade of 93.5. Jackson wrecked havoc in the interior and was responsible for 64 total pressures in 2017. As for Campbell, he was a nuisance to opposing quarterbacks as well, finishing the season with 31 quarterback knockdowns, which was only under Arizona’s Chandler Jones who had 35. Just under half of Campbell’s knockdowns were sacks (14.5) as he finished second in the league under Jones in that category, too.

On the next level behind them, Smith took advantage of having two of the league’s best in front of him by leading the Jags in tackles with 102. He also had his most productive year by the standards of PFF and acquired an elite grade of 90.4 this past season. According to the PFF analyst who constructed the top-101 list, Sam Monson, Smith’s run-defense grade of 94.1 led all linebackers in 2017.

On the back end, the Jags had what most would agree is the best cornerback tandem in the NFL with Bouye and Ramsey, who finished with a grade of 88.0 and 91.8, respectively. Bouye proved to be problematic for opposing quarterbacks to have success against as he led PFF’s database with a passer rating allowed of 31.6. Ramsey, on the other hand, only allowed 51.1 percent of passes thrown his way to be caught, which is mind-bottling in today’s pass-happy league.

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